The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Aksinto.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Aabyhoj, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program was to create new Osteospermum cultivars with interesting ray floret colors and heat-tolerance.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made by the Inventor of a proprietary selection of Osteospermum ecklonis identified as code number 9631 as the female, or seed, parent and the Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Dondo, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/291,104, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Osteospermum was selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of this cross in a controlled environment in Aabyhoj, Denmark, in 1996.
Plants of the new Osteospermum are less spreading, have smaller inflorescences and shorter peduncles than plants of the female parent, the selection 9631. Plants of the new Osteospermum are more compact, have shorter peduncles and have lighter lavender ray florets than plants of the male parent, the cultivar Dondo.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings at Aabyhoj, has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.